What is Worse Than Dying?
by megtries
Summary: Tony says that there is nothing worse than death. His team disagrees, but Tony is determined- nothing is worth than death, except maybe one thing...
Nothing is worse than death. Others may argue, but Tony was sticking with his decision. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Many things may happen in life, but none of it is worse than dying. Death can come in many shapes and forms, sure. But no matter how it comes, or where it goes, or when it happens, it's the worst. You die, you lose, and that's not even the worst part. You die, everyone else loses too. They lose you. And that, that right there, that's about the only thing that comes close to the pain of dying. Which makes dying even worse, because you just not only got yourself killed, but think of all the people's hearts that you killed, too. You could die in battle, that would be pretty nice . But what comes after this life? You're never going to find out how the battle ended if you die in action. And then someone, somehow, is going to blame themselves for your death. It doesn't matter what the truth is, it doesn't matter what you think, because- you're dead. You can't tell them that it wasn't their fault. You can't assure them that you don't blame them. So they tell themselves that they killed you, and that kills them. Just another reason dying is the worst thing in the world. You could die a quick death overnight, peacefully, unpainfully. But guess what? You still lose. You still left. And you still hurt everyone. The worst way to die, Tony thinks, is dying slowly. Whether it be a matter of minutes, full of torture, or days, weeks, months. You know you are going to die. What do you even do with yourself then? What is the point? And then one day it comes, and you don't know wether to be happy or sad, because the tortures over, but you lost. So, Tony argued that death is the worst thing ever. Nothing is worse than death. Steve disagreed.

Steve knew that there were things worse than death. Tony's argument had good points, but still, there are some things that are just so horrible, dying would seem nice. You could be tortured. Then, you may beg for death. It would be a relief. Torture lasts for too long, is too painful, and sometimes it's hard to handle, but everyone can handle death. Everyone dies. Torture is worse than death. Or, you could be turned into a monster. Into something you never wanted to be. If you were to become a monster, wouldn't you think death would be a dream? One of the worst things, though, absolutely worse than death, is being lost. Confused. Hopless. Everything changed around you and you don't know how to keep up. You never will keep up. So, Steve yelled that there was plenty worse than death. That sometimes, things became too much. Bruce had his opinions too.

Bruce was sad to say that death was good. Death wasn't a burden. Death was, like Steve said, a dream. An improbable, impossible dream. Monsters deserve death. Killers deserve death. Threats deserve death. Sometimes, they want death. So death would be good. The worst part of life, despite what Tony says, is not being able to die.

Natasha view on death is interesting, her being one to deliver it more often than not. She is pretty neutral about the subject. She hates it, but works for it. What it come down to is that some things are worse than death, like losing someone. Some things are better than death, though. Like revenge, and love. Death isn't the worst thing in the world. She had seen the worst things in the world. And sometimes, she agreed with Bruce. Death would be a pleasure. Most of the time, however, death and her are friends, with equal respect.

Clint had always feared death. Maybe it was the worst. It was the end of the line. The final goodbye, but he could understand where the others were coming from. While nothing seemed worse than death, some stuff came pretty close. One thing that he thought may even triumph over death was the feeling of being forgotten. Being left behind. A shadow when the sun went down. That seemed pretty bad, whether being lost was worse than death wasn't for him to decide now. He would decide that when he got found again.

Thor, in a childish way, understood his thoughts on the concept of death. He saw straight lines, good, bad. Heros, villains. Death, life was just another opposite. If you died a warrior's death, then it was a good thing. If you died a coward, may you burn. He was just waiting for the day when he went into battle and didn't return, but Odin knows he would never quit. He would never become a coward.

Even though everyone disagreed with Tony, he stood firm, opinions unable to budge. The others all spoke as people who didn't know. Bruce, he couldn't die. Cap technically did die, but in his mind it was only a few seconds. Widow and Clint were too strong and experienced to get into situations like he did. They would never know the feeling of the worse thing in the world until they faced it with a knowing smirk. They didn't know how your heart raced, not from anticipation, but from outright fear. They never had the time to think about what would happen if they died, Tony's genius mind worked to fast for his own good, sometimes. So, no. None of them could side with Tony. They hadn't met death personally like he had. Sure, they had come close sometimes, but Tony's heart before had stopped beating,Tony had once had no pulse. Once, he stopped breathing. A time came where the thing that kept him alive was slowly killing him. And that, that, was torture. That was being lost, being forgotten, being a coward. That was welcoming death with a hug and a smile, dreaming about it every night. That was the worst thing in the world, because that, that was death. And the others wouldn't know. Take away the metal suit and what was he? A dead man that was just waiting for his luck to run out. Tony was sticking with his opinion that nothing was worse than death, nothing except dying.


End file.
